Brian Alderson (b. 1930) is a pioneer of children’s literature studies in Britain as a distinguished author, reviewer, and translator. He has also collected books for more than 60 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate with cheap editions of work by poets Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot. His interest in children’s books came later but soon became a lifelong passion, resulting in the curation of a collection of over 20,000 books, dating from the 17th century to the present day. This collection, donated jointly to the University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, represents a vast and diverse distinctive resource.

The papers held at Newcastle are a substantial repository of the personal papers and plans of Sharp. The major part of the collection consists of papers collected from Sharp's Oxford house on his death by the now-retired Professor Brenikov of this University. The papers were subsequently put into storage. Their significance realised they were deposited with the University Library Special Collections. The principal elements of the collection are as follows:

• Files of information and correspondence relating to individual texts, including unpublished works

• Files of information and correspondence relating to individual plans. This includes, for example, work on historic cities, new villages, new towns and overseas commissions and competition entries

• Original plans for many commissions

• Extensive documentation on key planning cases where Sharp appeared as a witness at public inquiry e.g. Oxford Roads, Kepier Power Station Durham, Clarendon Hotel Oxford

• Extensive books of press-cuttings on all of the above

• Typescript of an unpublished autobiography and manuscript autobiographical notes

• Typescripts of government information films, radio talks, lectures

• Documentation on unsuccessful commissions

• Correspondence regarding the formation of the Civic Trust

• Lecture slides

• Miscellaneous personal correspondence

• Creative writing i.e. poetry, novels, radio plays etc., largely unpublished

Collectively these resources demonstrate the evolution of Sharp's thinking both in terms of individual commissions and over the course of his career. They illustrate important issues about the process of undertaking planning commissions in the period e.g. fees charged, numbers of staff employed, briefs set etc. They provide a rich source of information on how commissions were received both by clients and professional and local audiences. Additionally they are a rich source of material on how competing arguments and ideologies of urban evolution were advanced.

The Butler Collection is a collection of children's literature which had been created by Mary Thwaite and further developed by Joan Butler, both librarians for Hertfordshire Library Services. It was jointly acquired by the Robinson Library and Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books.The collection includes eighteenth-century pamphlets and books such as Young, Rev. J. The perils of Paul Percival or the Young Adventurer (c.1841), Ballantyne, R.M. The gorilla hunters: a tale of the wilds of Africa (1897), Banks, A. Cheep and chatter or lessons from field and tree (1884) and works by such well-known children's writers as Hans Christian Andersen, J.M. Barrie, Frances Hogson Burnett, James Fenimore Cooper and Daniel Defoe as well as books illustrated by Randolph Caldecott.

The Pollard Collection was brought together by Mr Eric Pollard and was purchased from the family with support from the Friends of the University Library in 2011. It focuses on the author, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) being particularly rich in early editions of his works. The collection includes a series of short stories, published as 'The Railway Library', which made Kipling's name as a writer in India, England and America. There are also many of his classic novels and works of children's literature such as Puck of Pook's Hill. During the First World War, Kipling devoted his writing to the war effort and this is represented in the collection too. Besides printed books the Pollard Collection includes cuttings and ephemera relating to Kipling as well as 16 colour folio plates by the artists Maurice and Edward Detmold, produced to illustrate the 1908 Macmillan octavo edition of The Jungle Book.

In the 1970s, Book Trust (now Booktrust) and Arts Council Great Britain (now Arts Council England), recognising that Britain is a world leader in children’s publishing, worked with the nation’s publishers of children’s books to establish the Booktrust collection. The Booktrust collection was conceived and developed as an informal deposit library with children’s publishers agreeing to send books as they become available. The Collection has grown so that it now totals some 70,000 volumes, including new titles, reprints, existing books in new formats and books in translation.

In 2004 the Collection was transferred to Newcastle University’s Robinson Library (now the Philip Robinson Library). Bringing the Collection to Newcastle meant that it became part of the partnership between the University and Seven Stories: National Centre for Children’s Books (https://www.sevenstories.org.uk/).

This collection continues to grow thanks to the past and ongoing commitment and generosity of the UK publishing industry. Many publishers have been involved since the collection was created in the 1970s, and recent contributors include: Child's Play, Tate, O'Brien, Lantana and Macmillan.

The personal papers of local poet Barry MacSweeney (1948-2000), who was an important figure in the Modern Poetry Revival, include manuscripts and published works, correspondence, literature reviews, poetry publications, photographs and newspapers articles.The correspondence includes a range of MacSweeney's friends, fellow poets and family including material from Clive Bush, Pete Bland, Tim Fletcher, Nicholas Johnson, Jackie Litherland, Maggie O'Sullivan, Eric Mottram, Elaine Randall, Jeremy Prynne and Chris Torrence.

Consists of notebooks of poetical drafts, manuscript drafts, annotated typescripts, research, and correspondence - both personal and professional - of Moniza Alvi.

Consists of digital copies of the personal diaries of the poet Rosemary Tonks, plus correspondence between Tonks and Joan Moat from the University of Exeter, and photocopies of Tonks' personal records including birth, death and marriage certificates.

Books published by Flambard Press, independent publisher based in Hexham which ran from 1990 - 2014. Includes poetry, novels, short stories and non-fiction and is strong in work by local authors.

Consists of material relating to published and submitted works, marketing sales and publicity, funding applications and literary events hosted by IRON Press.